{ in this interview, poet melissa studdard give some practical advice on the writing life }
when you picture someone reading your poetry, how do you see them? what do they think about, wear, and do? or, maybe a better way to say it: who do you write for? and how do you see your writing nourishing others?
I picture my readers as seekers. When I imagine their faces, I see light. When I imagine their hands, I see them holding light.
My books are pretty widely varied, but the commonality among the different types of writing I do is that I hope they all contribute to our understanding of the human condition and that they help show each person that within them lies a spark of the divine.
how do you use poetry as a practice for spiritual exploration, discipline, or growth? can you offer any practical advice or sure-fire practices for folks interested in allowing writing to inform their spiritual discipline?
Praying and/or meditating for 10-30 minutes before writing opens us up to receive wisdom. So, that is the first and most important thing I recommend. Also, I believe free writing allows us to tap into our deepest, most universal concerns. By free writing, I mean that you are not trying to shape the writing into anything—you’re just exploring to see what comes out and allowing yourself errors and whatever else may arise. I often free write before I do my “real” writing in order to clear my head and discover what I want to write about. If you don’t know how to get started, you can always pose a question, such as, “What do I want to write about?” Or, “How do I see my own spiritual evolution?” Of course, you will sometimes move away from the question and find yourself writing about something else entirely, and that is just fine. In fact, that is one of the ways you will know you are doing it right.
when you approach your desk, journal, computer—where ever it is you tend to create—what are some of the processes you use? what’s going through your mind? tell us about your habits of writing, no matter how quirky, mundane, strange, or small.
I’m always writing, even when I’m not writing. I keep my phone or paper next to my bed and email myself writing ideas in the middle of the night. Some of my best ideas come to me that way, or through dreams. One time I woke up with a list of words paper clipped to my lampshade. It was something like: splendor, computer screen, star shine, Kleenex, puppies, sycamore, God. I also email myself any ideas I come up with when I’m out and about in the world and not in front of my computer. I write on napkins and on the backs of envelopes, leave myself phone messages, write things on the back of my hand—
One other thing I do that may be a little eccentric is that I often start poems with paper and pen and then move to the computer once I feel them crack open.
when you go to revise work, how do you typically go about it? are there best practices you follow? give some wise instruction for those of us ready to get cracking on revision!
It’s important to remember that when revising you’re still creating and playing. I keep a scratch pad or an open file on my computer to continue to free write and brainstorm during the revision process.
I think of it kind of like a math test—you have the test you’re working on (the actual poem, story, song, play, or essay), but you also have scratch paper to work out the problems.
If you’re too rigid and editorial when revising, it all seems so very serious, and that can make it difficult to make decisions. Know that it’s fluid, and you can keep writing and revising as long or as you want.
what’s the best advice you can give to a person just beginning to write, struggling to write, or feeling stuck? what’s something you wish someone had told you starting out?
Set a schedule that works for you. Be realistic so you don’t give up. If you schedule writing twice a week for two hours a pop, so be it. The writing will accumulate over time. If it’s eight hours a day, five days a week, even better. The important thing is to thoroughly incorporate writing into your lifestyle as fully as you would anything else that really mattered to you. Don’t think of it as optional. If you had monthly appointments to take your child to a pediatrician, and you missed one, you would re-schedule it. Do the same with your writing. The first time you tell someone you can’t get together because you have a writing appointment, you’ll realize how powerful this is. Soon you’ll be scheduling doctor’s appointments and other important events around your writing time. If you treat writing like a hobby, it will most likely only ever be a hobby. Instead, treat it like what you want it to be.
would you like to share a poem you’re working on or have recently finished and comment on how it was written in light of the comments above?
I’d like to share the title poem from my recently released collection. I’d been reading a lot of books about world religions, and through my readings I was overcome with a sense of wonder at the ordinary, and that transferred to my breakfast, and especially, to my pancake.
I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast
—After Thich Nhat Hanh
It looked like a pancake,
but it was creation flattened out—
the fist of God on a head of wheat,
milk, the unborn child of an unsuspecting
chicken — all beaten to batter and drizzled into a pan.
I brewed my tea and closed my eyes
while I ate the sun, the air, the rain,
photosynthesis on a plate.
I ate the time it took that chicken
to bear and lay her egg
and the energy it takes a cow to lactate a cup of milk.
I thought of the farmers, the truck drivers,
the grocers, the people who made the bag that stored the wheat,
and my labor over the stove seemed short,
and the pancake tasted good,
and I was thankful.
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Melissa’s poetry, fiction, essays, reviews, and articles have appeared in dozens of journals and anthologies, including Boulevard, Connecticut Review, Pleiades, and Poets & Writers. Her debut poetry collection, I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast, was recently released by Saint Julian Press. In addition to writing, Melissa serves as an editorial advisor for The Criterion, an interviewer for American Microreviews and Interviews, and a host for Tiferet Talk radio. She received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence college and is a professor for the Lone Star College System and a teaching artist for The Rooster Moans Poetry Cooperative.